MAINTENANCE

Georgia422016

unsure as to what my maintenance calories should be, im 165cm and weigh 51kg, im 18 (woman)

middlehaitch

Just enter your new goal and MFP will give you the correct amount of maintenance calories.

MFP expects you to log and eat back your exercise calories on top of your maintenance calories. Because MFP and cardio equipment tend to overestimate calorie burns eat back 50-75%.

Cheers, h.

WaterBunnie

What she said! MFP makes it easy.

AnnPT77

Yes, what middlehaitch said.

Then, if you do that persistently for a month or two, and you've lost weight, add some calories (maybe 100 daily) and monitor again. OTOH, if you've gained after that first month or two, reduce calories (maybe 100 daily). Rinse & repeat until you're stable in a sensible range around your desired maintenance weight (a range because there will be random fluctuations).

You can even estimate how many calories to add/subtract by calculating how many calories per day your gain/loss equated to. Just assume roughly 3500 calories per pound, times the number of pounds; then divide the results by the number of days. Add or subtract that many calories from your daily goal.